MATING FREQUENCY IN SCHIZOCOSA OCREATA (HENTZ) WOLF SPIDERS: EVIDENCE FOR A MATING SYSTEM WITH FEMALE MONANDRY AND MALE POLYGYNY
88 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Abstract Courtship behavior has been studied extensively in the wolf spider Schizocosa ocreata (Hentz) (Araneae, Lycosidae). While much research has tested predictions of sexual selection theory regarding male traits and female mate choice, some critical assumptions about female behavior remain untested. To determine if females mate more than once, and to what degree copulation influences subsequent female mating, a multiple mating experiment was conducted. Virgin females were paired randomly with males in laboratory containers. If mating occurred, females were paired with a second male within 24 hr, after 3 days, or after 30 days (enough time for an egg sac to be produced). Of the 101 females tested, 83 (82%) mated with the first male they encountered. The probability of a female mating the first time was not influenced by female size, male size, or male age, but varied significantly with female age post-maturity. Of the 18 males that failed to mate, 3 were cannibalized. Of the 83 males that did mate, 12 were cannibalized after mating. There was no difference between re-mating treatments (1 d, 3 d and 30 d), and analysis of pooled data showed a highly significant difference in the proportion of virgin and mated females accepting males; most females mated only once (93%). In contrast, males appeared to court and attempt mating with every female encountered (virgin and mated), and a majority of males paired with more than one virgin female mated more than once (64.5%). Results suggest that female S. ocreata are essentially monandrous, while males are polygynous, and are discussed in the context of potential conflicts-of-interest between the sexes.
Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Genetics
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/e74859decd3d0b49429e94a2c4c2392b189b5157
How researchers see this paper
The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.
In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
In Genetics
Citations in the corpus
- Experience leads to preference: experienced females prefer brush-legged males in a population of syntopic wolf spiders (2007, background): “Adult female mate choice was tested 13‐24 days after their final maturation moult, which is within the female’s window of receptivity ( Norton and Uetz 2005 ).”
- Information content of female chemical signals in the wolf spider, Schizocosa ocreata: male discrimination of reproductive state and receptivity (2005, background): “Chemical signals associated with silk are sufficient to elicit courtship activity from males in many species ( Kaston 1936; Rovner 1968; Tietjen 1979), but the ability of males to recognize and discriminate female reproductive status and potential receptivity is not well understood.”
- Diet influences mate choice selectivity in adult female wolf spiders (2008, background): “Since females tend to mate only once (Norton & Uetz, 2005), and since a female’s condition at the time of mating may significantly affect her ultimate fitness, a female may be less likely to engage in copulation when in poor condition.”
- Seismic communication and mate choice in wolf spiders: components of male seismic signals and mating success (2008, methodology): “…studies (reviewed in Uetz 2000; Uetz & Roberts 2002), and female receptivity display behaviour usually precedes successful copulations in >85e95% of pairings (Montgomery 1903; Uetz & Denterlein 1979; Scheffer et al. 1996; Delaney 1997; Norton & Uetz 2005; J. Johns & G. W. Uetz, unpublished data).”
- Preference for male traits in female wolf spiders varies with the choice of available males, female age and reproductive state (2007, background): “Recent studies have demonstrated that females of this species are mostly monogamous, as only 5–9% mate with a second male (Norton and Uetz 2005; Persons and Uetz 2005).”